


Empire To Ashes

by SicVitaEst



Category: Midsomer Murders - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Based on a Tumblr Post, Ficlet, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Oneshot, Tumblr Prompt, Whump, idk what this is tbh, not my prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:07:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28098168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SicVitaEst/pseuds/SicVitaEst
Summary: Everything was milky white and grey, smothered in snow and ash until nothing was left but silence and cold.
Relationships: John Barnaby/Sarah Barnaby
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	Empire To Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> Writing Prompt #497 by unblockingwritersblock on tumblr.  
> “Everything was milky white and grey, smothered in snow and ash until nothing was left but silence and cold.”
> 
> This is not my prompt, but the rest of the story is my own.
> 
> Story title inspired by the song Empire to Ashes by Sleeping With Sirens. The song doesn’t relate to this fic.

Everything was milky white and grey, smothered in snow and ash until nothing was left but silence and cold.

DCI Barnaby started to sit up slowly, hissing at the pain shooting through his head. He raised a hand to his head, moving it away when he felt a damp patch on his right temple. Blood. A thought crossed his mind. Winter. Where was Winter? 

As if he was suddenly hit with the fear of his right hand man, his friend, being in danger, he jumped onto his feet. Spinning on his feet, he took in the scene. There was the still-smouldering rubble of what was once a wooden cabin. He presumed the man that they tried, and failed, to talk down from setting off a bomb was somewhere among that mess.

But something caught the inspectors eye. A few feet to the left of where he was standing was the crumpled form of his sergeant.

“Jamie!” Barnaby shouted as he ran towards his friend. The younger man did not move, and made no indication he had heard his boss. Kneeling down next to him, Barnaby turned Winter on his side, trying to keep as little of him in contact with the snow as possible. Tapping his cheek, Barnaby called out his sergeant’s name “Winter. Winter. Jamie?”.

After his unsuccessful attempt to rouse the man he checked his phone, only to see that it was smashed. He could only hope that backup was close by, because they needed help.

Taking off his jacket, he tried to make Winter as comfortable as possible, ignoring his own deteriorating state. This man was like a son to him, and he couldn’t afford to lose someone else close to him. Jamie was like family. No, scratch that, he was family.

A feeble cough pulled him out of his thoughts. Quickly looking down, he was surprised to see Jamie trying to sit up. Grabbing his sergeant’s shoulders, he guided the man so he could sit up without falling down.

“Sir, what happened?” The voice was small and strained, and definitely didn’t sound like Jamie’s usual happy-go-lucky self.

“We were working the art robbery case remember? A lead came up, and we followed our suspect here before he blew- Winter? Winter? Hey, look at me!” The inspector was cut off mid explanation as he noticed his sergeant’s eyes fluttering.

“Sssorry sir… hurts.” This small statement alarmed Barnaby, the slurring of the words and the admission that his sergeant was in pain scared him.

He could hear sirens in the distance. Finally, the backup was arriving. Glad for his sergeant’s instinct to call for backup when they first reached the cabin, he relaxed slightly.

Winter was now sitting more upright, suddenly realising his boss was also hurt. “Sir, are you ok?”

“Me? Winter I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

He didn’t seem convinced at that, but Jamie decided to let it go. Why was it so cold? Why did it have to snow? As if Barnaby could sense his thoughts he sat closer to his sergeant and readjusted the jacket, trying to keep some warmth between them.

The eerie silence was broken by the sounds of tires in the snow and the sirens as loud as ever. Wow, when did they get here? He could vaguely hear the sounds of officers communicating, calling for an ambulance and fire crew. Barnaby’s focus was still on his sergeant, who had now lost consciousness and was being wrapped in a blanket one of the uniformed officers had gotten from the car.

He was taken aback by a paramedic coming into his field of vision. Barnaby must have missed the ambulance arriving.

“-pector, Inspector, can you hear me?” The paramedic was trying to catch his attention, but his focus was on his sergeant being taken into the ambulance.

“Sir, I need to get you checked out. Please follow me.”

With the help of the paramedic, Barnaby rose to his feet and let himself be guided to the ambulance.


End file.
